Finally, some clarity in SF

By tim

Created 11/06/2012 - 10:22pm

So right after I complained about SF dragging its feet on returns, we get another big chunk and it shows Eric Mar taking D1 handily. Amazing: A carpet-bombing campaign of big money, and the quiet progressive pulls it out.

Now: He had the support of Rose Pak, but mostly he had troops on the ground, a lot of them from the labor movement and a lot of them pro-tenant folks who saw the clear and present danger that David Lee would bring to City Hall.

Lee has to be in shock -- how can you spend $800,000 and lose in a district race? The guy got 7,300 votes; that's about $109 a vote. Stunning.

But it shows that, as former Sup. Chris Daly put it, "when progressive are united, we win."

Progressives were never united in D5 -- except in their opposition to London Breed. So now we have to see if the second-place votes break that way -- or if a district that elected two Green Party members will wind up putting a moderate centrist on the board.

It's odd -- right now, it appears that either Norman Yee or F.X. Crowley will win in D7, making the most conservative district in the city a swing vote. And if London Breed is elected, the most liberal district in the city could become a swing vote. Weird times.

Tomorrow I'll try to get some perspective on how all of this happened.